The Stick by the Lake

As good homeschoolers, we took the kids to Washington, D.C. for a “field trip” that consisted of six states in ten days. That sounds exhausting to people who live on the west coast, but Easterners know better. Six states is a nice Sunday afternoon drive on the Atlantic coast.

As homeschool moms, we pride ourselves in the knowledge our children have attained under our tutelage. We are also shocked and embarrassed at their lack of knowledge in areas that we forgot haven’t covered yet. When we announced our trip to our nation’s capitol, one child, who shall remain nameless, asked if we were going to visit “the-stick-by-the-lake.” After a bit of clarification, mortifyingly for me, we figured out it was the Washington Monument, commemorating only the first U.S. president and one of our nation’s most significant Christian heroes. I couldn’t even use the excuse that we haven’t studied that yet. Well, actually I could. We have covered the Revolutionary War, but the-stick-by-the-lake wasn’t up in 1776.

I love this picture of my husband and kids admiring the scenic view from Lincoln’s Memorial. This may have been the view that inspired my husband, Rick, to apply for his American citizenship. Who knows? He did apply when we arrived back home. It’s a long process, to be sure. He applied in June. Received a letter in October that said, “We received your application. You can expect to hear from us in the next 365 days.” They could take a few pointers from the adoption people. If you use months instead of days, it doesn’t sound quite so long. I’m glad our adoption approval didn’t come with a wait time of 60 to 900 days. But it’s true. Just sounds worse, doesn’t it?